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Description

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The engraving on banknote is made after this painting of Antonio Amador José de Nariño by Columbian artist José María Espinosa.

Antonio Amador José de Nariño Bernardo del Casal (09.04.1765 - 13.12.1823) was an ideological Colombian precursor and one of the early political and military leaders of the independence movement in the New Granada (present day Colombia.

Nariño was born to an aristocratic family. He was intellectually curious and admired the political ideologies of the leaders of the French and American Revolutions. In his impressive library there was a portrait of Benjamin Franklin above the mantle. In his youth, Nariño was a strong influence among the progressive young people of Bogotá, Colombia, hosting many secret political gatherings where the need for independence and the means of achieving it were discussed. Nariño was one of the most out-spoken and articulate participants at these meetings, and was widely respected by his fellow revolutionaries.

In 1794, Nariño procured a copy of the "Declaration of the Rights of Man", which was being distributed by the French Assembly. He translated the Declaration of the Rights of Man from its original French into Spanish and printed several copies from his own private press. He then circulated these translated pamphlets among his politically like-minded friends. Copies of the pamphlet were distributed to all corners of the continent and created a stirring in the political mentalities of the time. The government soon discovered the material and any copy that was found was burned. Nariño was sentenced to ten years of imprisonment in Africa for his leading role in the political group and was exiled from South America. Nariño had previously worked as a tax collector (Recaudador de diezmos) and was also accused of fraud resulting from this activity.

However, when the ship landed in Spain, Nariño escaped from his captors and later went to France and England, where he continued his work supporting the revolution in South America. He found his way back to New Granada (Colombia) where the authorities again caught up with him in Bogotá. This time he was imprisoned and sent to Madrid but somehow managed to escape again and return to Colombia, where he was able to take part in the revolution. He founded the political newspaper La Bagatela in 1811. That same year he was selected president of the State of Cundinamarca.

Recognized as the commander of the centralist republican forces in New Granada, Nariño fought several battles against the federalists organized around the city of Cartagena, Colombia.

In July 1813, General Nariño began an intensive military campaign against the Spanish and Royalist forces in the south, intending to reach Pasto and eventually Quito.

Nariño's forces, known as the Army of the South, numbering 1500 to 2000 men, managed to capture Popayán in January 1814 after defeating the Royalist forces in the area in a series of initially successful battles.

After stopping to reorganize the city's government and his own forces, he pressed on towards Pasto. Historians have speculated that, had he not stopped at Popayán but actually decisively pursued the fleeing Royalist army, he might have been able to successfully capture a relatively undefended Pasto.

As things happened, the constant raids of Royalist guerrillas, the harshness of the terrain, the lack of promised reinforcements from Antioquia, and the delays in bringing up his army's artillery contributed to weakening the morale of many of the troops under Nariño's command, when they had practically reached the gates of Pasto.

After being wounded during combat, a false rumor of his death was spread, and most of the remaining soldiers scattered, only some 400 returning to Popayán. Nariño, left practically alone in the battlefield, attempted to hide, but surrendered himself when Royalist scouts found him. He was taken into Pasto in May 1814, and then sent to the Royal prison at Cádiz via Quito.

He was freed in 1821 after the revolt of Rafael del Riego, and returned to his home country, Colombia, now independent from Spain after the republican victory at the Battle of Boyacá.

Nariño was one of the candidates for election to the presidency of Gran Colombia in 1821, which he lost to Simón Bolívar by the significant margin of 50 to 6 votes in the Congress held at Cúcuta, finishing second. He also lost the election for vice president, with Francisco de Paula Santander eventually defeating him by a 38 to 19 vote margin after several heated rounds of voting.

He died in 1824, having become a national hero of Colombia. He is mentioned in the last stanza of the Colombian national anthem. At the foot of his memorial statue in Bogotá he is quoted: "I have loved my country; only History will say what this love has been." The presidential palace of the Republic of Colombia, Casa de Nariño or Palacio de Nariño, was constructed at the site of his birthplace and named in his honor.

On right side is the large condor (from Colombian coat of arms) sitting on laurel branches framing the denomination. On the left side is also the branch of olive.

Denomination in center framed by branches of oak with acorn.

Denominations in numerals are in top left corner, at the top and in lower right corner.

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San Agustín Archaeological Park.

The largest group of religious monuments and megalithic sculptures in South America stands in a wild, spectacular landscape. Gods and mythical animals are skilfully represented in styles ranging from abstract to realist. These works of art display the creativity and imagination of a northern Andean culture that flourished from the 1st to the 8th century.

The San Agustín Archaeological Park is located in the Colombian Massif of the Colombian southwestern Andes, on terrains of the municipalities of San Agustín and Isnos, in the department of Huila. Three separate properties, totalling 116 ha, comprise the Archaeological Park: San Agustín (conformed by the Mesita A, Mesita B, Mesita C, La Estación, Alto de Lavapatas and Fuente de Lavapatas sites), Alto de los Ídolos and Alto de Las Piedras. The park is at the core of San Agustín archaeological zone featuring the largest complex of pre-Columbian megalithic funerary monuments and statuary, burial mounds, terraces, funerary structures, stone statuary and the Fuente de Lavapatas site, a religious monument carved in the stone bed of a stream.

The ceremonial sites are at the center of settlement concentrations and contain large burial mounds connected to one another by terraces, paths, and earthen causeways. The earthen mounds, some measuring 30 m in diameter, constructed during the Regional Classic period (1-900 AD) covered large stone tombs of elite individuals of the well documented chiefdom societies that developed in the region since around 1000 BC - one of the earliest complex societies in the Americas. The tombs contain an elaborate funerary architecture of stone corridors, columns, sarcophagi and large impressive statues depicting gods or supernatural beings, an expression of the link between deceased ancestors and the supernatural power that marks the institutionalization of power in the region. In the municipality of San Agustin the main archaeological monuments are Las Mesitas, where the ancestors constructed artificial mounds, terraces, funerary structures and stone statuary; the Fuente de Lavapatas, a religious monument carved in the stone bed of a stream; and the Bosque de Las Estatuas, where there are examples of stone statues from the whole region. The Alto de Los Idolos is on the right bank of the Magdalena River and the smaller Alto de las Piedras lies further north: both are in the municipality of San José de Isnos. Like the main San Agustín area, they are rich in monuments of all kinds. Much of the area is a rich archaeological landscape, with evidence of ancient tracks, field boundaries, drainage ditches and artificial platforms, as well as funerary monuments. This was a sacred land, a place of pilgrimage and ancestors worship. These hieratic guards, some more than 4 m high weighing several tonnes, are carved in blocks of tuff and volcanic rock. They protected the funeral rooms, the monolithic sarcophagi and the burial sites.

The monuments are located at the political and demographic centers of chiefdom societies that consolidated their power through complex ceremonial activities and the production of knowledge. San Agustín chiefdoms and the outstanding statuary of their tombs represent an exceptional trajectory of political centralization amidst a rugged environment and without the concentration of economic wealth, and as such are of great scientific and aesthetic importance.

On the top is the seal of Colombian bank. It shows the female allegory of Colombia.

Denominations in numerals are on right and left sides, surrounded by oak leaves. Lower in numeral and in words.